Twins' Ortiz homered against Royals ... with broken wrist

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Minnesota Twins designated hitter David Ortiz was placed on the disabled list Saturday, a day after breaking his right wrist diving into home plate.

Ortiz was injured Friday night in the fourth inning of Minnesota's 6-2 victory over Kansas City. One inning later, he homered into the right-field bullpen, but rounding the bases he knew the pain was more than discomfort.

He then went to a hospital for X-rays. Ortiz is expected to miss six to eight weeks.

"I tried to go on the outside and touch home plate with my left hand," Ortiz said, "but I forgot about this (right) side. I hit the ground kind of hard and jammed the bone. It wasn't hurting too much until I went to hit again.

"I was feeling the pain, but not too much. When I was running the bases and I thought, 'Wow, something is hurting bad.' I thought it was sprained. I never thought it was broken. The doctors say it's cracked, but it's not out of place."

Twins' trainers at first thought Ortiz hurt a thumb.

"We asked David maybe 90 times or 100, I'm not sure, I lost track: Are you all right?" manager Tom Kelly said. "He said he was, so we let him hit. After he hit, the trainers said his wrist was starting to swell, so we got him out of there."

Kelly seemed to take the injury in stride.

"We don't cry about injuries," he said. "We never have and we're not going to start now. I had a man go blind one day, a Hall of Fame player (Kirby Puckett). We just move along. Injuries are part of the game."

Minnesota entered Saturday 20-7, the best start in Twins' history.

"Everybody on this ballclub right now is important," Ortiz said. "Every night a different guy does something good for the team. There are no superstars on this team. I'm just a player. We've got a bunch of guys out there who can get it done. This won't be a big deal."

To fill Ortiz's roster spot, the Twins recalled right-hander Jack Cressend from Triple-A Edmonton, where he was 2-2 with a 3.50 ERA and one save.